Shakespeare | The dramatic works, 1791, 9 vols, the first subscriber's copy, presented by Thomas Coutts to Harriot Mellon

William Shakespeare

The dramatic works of Shakspeare. Revised by George Steevens. London: printed by W. Bulmer & Co. for John and Josiah Boydell, George and W. Nicol, 1791-1802

9 volumes, folio (428 x 325mm.), general title, engraved frontispiece, engraved portrait of Shakespeare, and dedication leaf in volume one, titles and half-titles in each volume, 95 further engraved plates, contemporary russia, marbled edges, green endpapers, some browning, transfer, and a few small closed tears, rebacked retaining original spines, boards and a few preliminaries detached

THE FIRST COPY (WITH THE FINEST IMPRESSIONS OF THE PLATES) OF THE LEGENDARY BOYDELL SHAKESPEARE, PRESENTED BY PUBLISHER GEORGE NICHOL TO THOMAS COUTTS, THE FAMOUS BANKER, THEN GIVEN BY COUTTS TO HIS WIFE, THE CELEBRATED SHAKESPEARIAN ACTOR HARRIOT MELLON.

The title-page of the first volume bears a charming presentation inscription from Coutts to Mellon: "The first day of September 1816. | Given by me Thomas Coutts aged 82 To Harriot my beloved wife | The Best of Women". The presentation of this sumptuously illustrated folio edition of Shakespeare was a fitting way of celebrating the culmination of Harriot's distinguished theatrical career. The year of her marriage—a year before this volume was inscribed—Harriot played Audrey in a Drury Lane production of As You Like It, in what was to be her final role on the public stage.

Harriot's biography is a remarkable story of upwards social mobility. Born the illegitimate daughter of an Irish wardrobe-keeper, she worked her way up from the lowest ranks of the theatrical world. A watershed moment came when Sheridan cast her as Lydia Languish in the 1795 production ofThe Rivals, and over the next twenty years, Harriot trod the boards alongside Dorothy Jordan and Sarah Siddons, earning a distinguished reputation in her own right. In 1805, she began a decade-long affair with Coutts, one of the richest men in London, and the death of Coutts' first wife allowed eventually allowed the pair to marry in 1815.

In spite of their significant age gap, the marital relationship between Harriot and Thomas was clearly driven by deep love. (After his death, she later described him in a letter to Walter Scott as "the best, the most perfect being that ever breathed"). A pencil caricature of "Mrs Coutts", presumably drawn by Thomas, on page 26 of Hamlet in volume 9, may well have been an in-joke between the pair, offering an insight into their affectionate relationship. Harriot clearly treasured the present volumes after Coutts' death, as the bookplates date from after her marriage to the Duke of St Albans.

Another unique feature of this copy is the autograph letter signed from George Nichol—one of the publishers, and author of the Preface—to Thomas Coutts, dated July 16 1791, presenting Coutts with "the first No. of the Shakspeare, with a Certification on the piece of paper that accompanies the small plates, which besides intitling you to the first impulsions through the whole work, may be a memento of some curiosity a hundred years hence". The letter also praises Coutts for his "delicacy of... conduct with regard to the Christ's Hospital Election", and promises to send him a copy of a work by the Swiss physiognomist Johann Kaspar Lavater. Also bound in is the leaf accompanying the small plates with Nichols' signature and certification, mentioned in the letter ("I hereby voluntarily certify that Mr. Coutts was the first Person that subscribed to me for the Shakspeare undertaking early in the morning of the first of December 1786 | George Nichols").

PROVENANCE:

Presented by the publisher George Nichol to Thomas Coutts (1735-1822); presented by Coutts to his second wife, Harriot Beauclark (née Mellon, 1777-1837) on 1st September 1816: presentation inscription to half-title of volume one and bookplates of Harriot Duchess of St Albans, Stratton Street Library in each volume; Maggs, Catalogue No. 456 ("Books, Manuscripts & Bindings remarkable for their Rarity, Beauty and Interest"), 1924, item 359; Florencio Gavito (twentieth century Mexican bibliophile): bookplate in volume one

LITERATURE:

"Beauclerk [née Mellon; other married name Coutts], Harriot, duchess of St Albans", ODNB, 2008